Indian Police Force Review: Siddharth Malhotra, Rohit Shetty’s show fails to live up to expectations

Rohit Shetty’s Cop World featuring Singham, Soriyavanshi and Simmba showed a good mix of action and entertainment. Although the stories portrayed police officers as almost invincible beings who operated largely outside the system, the fact that they were good movie material was enough to make viewers suspend their disbelief and immerse themselves in the heroism and machismo of the titular characters. However, all this was undone in Indian Police Force starring Siddharth Malhotra and Vivek Oberoi. Rohit’s maiden web series is not only vulnerable in its plot but also lacks the technical finesse that the director is associated with, especially the VFX.

Hot Take

The story of the Indian police force opens after a series of blasts in New Delhi carried out by the Indian Mujahideen (IM). The local police, led by Vikram Bakshi (Vivek Oberoi) and Kabir Malik (Vivek Oberoi), are on the case, which sets off a cat-and-mouse chase in motion. Where the story goes from here is anyone’s guess. The show does not work at the level of the script, nor are the performances adequate. It almost feels like ‘Risk’ Rohit played it safe with his digital debut and failed.

Is India’s police force worth the hype?

Considering that Indian Police Force was a continuation of Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe, there was considerable hype around the show. This was enhanced by the casting of Siddharth Malhotra in the lead role. However, neither the show lives up to Rohit’s standards nor does the actor bring any innovation to the role.

The tone of Indian Police is set in the first half hour itself. There are extended shots of the protagonist walking in slo-mo with a soaring background score. Such weak treatment removes the seriousness of multiple bomb blasts and the threat of a terrorist module operating in the city. Rohit and co-director Sushwant Prakash seem to have sacrificed realism for the heroism of the cops.

While Indian Police has a template script that is very characteristic of Rohit’s filmography, it never really breaks down. The performances of the main stars are animated and the visual treatment is muted. The yellow hue dominates the color palette and is very distracting. The dialogues are stilted and downplay the gravity of the situation.

Stream or Skip?

The Indian police force came with many promises but failed to deliver on all the points. Rohit was expected to take his story to the next level in the long form, but the show is one level down in his filmography. It seems the director couldn’t break free from commercial star tropes and chose to virtually ignore them. Despite being in his comfort zone, Rohit is far from it.

bottom line

Indian Police lacks detail and world-building. A filmmaker of Rohit Shetty’s caliber should have known better than to bring this outdated concept and treatment to OTT.

Rating: 1.5/5 stars